At a recent meeting with other consultants to Moody International Consulting & Training, a company to whom we contract our services and a leader in the behavior-based safety training field, we were led through a brief, yet powerful, exercise to develop or fine-tune our “elevator speeches.”
An “elevator speech” is a short, 2-3 sentence description of what one does. It answers the always-asked, ice-breaking question “so, what do you do?” in such a way as to elicit interest from those who may want your product or service. When properly delivered, it prompts questions or other invitations for further information. The recipient should NOT get the sense that they are being “sold.”
It is rarely delivered well.
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A friend and I were discussing auto sales in preparation for a presentation he will be delivering tomorrow on that topic. It got me to thinking … are salesman, at least in some industries, an anachronism? Those who do survive and succeed will, I am certain, have a markedly different mindset than what they have known before, and they will use a different skill set: that of purposeful and insightful questioning.
In my comments, I reference “GREAT questions.” In Choice Analysis, our proprietary decision-making training, we teach the questions that decision makers need to ask and answer in order to choose wisely. These same questions can be used to facilitate another’s decision process to truly help them get what will best satisfy their needs.
This knowledge, employed by a TOTALLY customer-focused “purchasing advisor” (my suggestion to replace the title “salesman”), sets the stage for valuable information exchange, increasing trust and, ultimately, more sales. In fact, this framework would assist anyone involved in “consultative sales.”
What are your thoughts on the state of sales? How would you advise those who are in the business of pushing commodities to reinvent themselves in the face of the information onslaught that is the Internet?
Are you a football fan? I’m a New Orleans native, and although we are winning now, for many years we had a “losing” mindset. It showed in how the team approached the big games. Similar to how many small-to-medium sized businesses approach sales, only in the sales game, the losing mindset is called “Feast or Famine.”
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I asked in a recent post: when it comes to marketing your product or service, how does one rise above the noise and the clatter?
You know some of the answers, I’m sure. ONE ANSWER IS (drum roll, please) …
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I authored an article for RainToday entitled “How to Deal with Lost Sales: A Lesson from the Links.” In it, I shared lessons I had learned about how to systematically drive sales, even when one “slips away.” Briefly, those steps included the following (and for more elaboration, check out the RainToday article here):
A careful reader, Daniel Holland “the Funnel Coach”, offered an important addition. His comments, in their entirety, are reproduced below. Thanks, Daniel!
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Dear Rob, I humbly suggest adding add a# 7 to your list: Recycle! In your ‘no thanks’ example, a short withdrawal response on your part might go something like this: “While we regret that we’ve been unable to help you on this occasion, we respect your decision. We will leave you alone for a while, but we obviously want to keep in touch and be ready to help you should the need arise in the future. “Here’s what we propose: I’ll ask a colleague (NOT A SALES PERSON) to give you a call once a quarter. Each time he calls, he’ll ask you just two questions: ‘have things changes relative to <the problems/situation you previously discussed> – and may I send you another case study on the subject to help your background thinking?’ “Would that be OK with you?” So start your recycling as soon as you can after they have leaked, and maintain the rhythm.
Tactics will vary depending on where in the buying & selling journey they were when they leaked (or when you leaked them). I try to touch base with probable buyers at least every two months, but communicate as frequently as weekly in other circumstances and in certain markets. But you need to take care that your tactics are welcomed and not resented. If you are sending emails, make sure they are loaded with true value – not just promotions and “product flog” that holds more interest for you than for them.
What sort of communications work?
I purchased professional photography services recently. By now, the world can see the new, gorgeous me, not me from 10 years ago. Karen Bultman did a wonderful job, and I recommend her to anyone in the Atlanta area.
I didn’t know that I was going to be purchasing these services — in fact, I had only the barest itch months ago. It wasn’t until I shaved my head in December that I realized that the guy on the website no longer looked like me at all.
I forgot about it until I returned to web updating and blogging (after a long hiatus) about 8 weeks ago. It nagged me for a few weeks. Then I was in a Speed Networking event at the chamber on Tuesday and seated across from Kathleen, the owner of Artworks on the Square. It hit me …
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the CODE Sales Funnel - Applicable to Ministries too
I recently worked with the board of a Christian ministry. The topic of the meeting was “Sustainability.” The Board Chair wanted his board members to seriously consider their personal responsiblity for fundraising for the organization. I had presented an overview of our sales approach (the CODE process), with modifications for a nonprofit ministry environment. CODE enables an organization to get “all hands on deck” around sales, a structure for dividing up the roles and responsibilities, and a method for documenting sales efforts that doesn’t require expensive, complicated software.
I was surprised when, as the conclusion of my presentation, one of the board members went on to great lengths about how “this ministry is different” and how using tools like CODE was “trusting in man’s ways rather than God’s ways.”
Now I want to honor the desire to do things the right way, that means are just as important as ends. However, from a truly Christian standpoint, Truth is Truth. Actions are either
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We were recently asked to contribute to an upcoming publication on how to turn disgruntled customers into raving fans. It’s simple:
Understand — Own Up — Make Good
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Two suggestions heard at a Peachtree Networking Group meeting this morning, thanks to Jim Baker, Ben Richey and Win Wilson.
Jim, a business benefits expert, tossed out the question for discussion. Many small businesses require regular, consistent cold-calling. When you’ve heard “no” for the 22nd time today, how do you recover and energetically get back on the line for number 23?
Ben reminds himself that in his business – he is a financial advisor with a national firm – it’s a numbers game. He works to have 25 meaningful conversations in a day, which should lead to 4 in-person meetings, which will produce 1 sale. But to get those 25 real conversations, he knows that he’s going to have to dial 100 numbers. Every day.
Over time, however, the snowball gets turning. That is, while he is still reaching out to those new 100 / day, his clients (which slowly grow in number) begin to refer him as well. Then business is steadier. For Ben, it’s about understanding the nature of the game and reminding oneself of the goal.
Win, a very successful realtor in the Peachtree City area, added that by knowing how many “nos” will lead to a “yes,” and by knowing the value of one sale, he can calculate a monetary value for each “no.” He finishes those “no” phone calls upbeat by saying “Thank you for the $50.00 you just put in my pocket.”
Simple, practical suggestions for maintaining motivation and successful cold calling.
Many of us – in today’s economy, more than ever – need to network effectively to open up opportunity. We feel the pressure to “make a good impression,” and then take precisely the wrong approach. Learn from the mistake an aspiring consultant made with me, and my subsequent advice to him …
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A young consultant recently requested that we meet. This individual had participated in a strategy session that we facilitated a few years ago, was interested in growing his consulting work in the field of leadership and saw a potential link with First Steps. We are currently seeking to expand our cadre of certified trainers, whether as full-time staff or consultants, so it looked like a potential win from our end – I agreed.
Unfortunately, the meeting didn’t go so well. Strike number one: he was late, by about 10 minutes. While that may work in other cultures, 10 minutes late in the US translates as “I have other, more important things to do.” Bad first impression.
Strike two: he spent the 30 minutes or so that we had together talking about himself, his experience and expertise in the field of leadership, other training he was engaged in, etc.; after the first five minutes, I was wondering why I was sitting there. I finally stopped him, explained that this wasn’t working for me, and we parted.
Fortunately for him, and perhaps also for us, there was no strike three. On the surface, he is bright, articulate and energetic — he might be a good associate for First Steps in the future. I received an email from him yesterday evening that showed some thought, some evidence of awareness that he “oversold,” and a continued interest in learning. I replied via email expressing a real interest in visiting with him in the future; I also provided the following tip to assist his future interactions with potential clients or partners.
As I mentioned, I believe that part of my calling is to assist other consultants in their practices, so whether or not this is a “win” financially for me, I’d be interested in assisting you. In that spirit, I’d like to offer now just one tip that has helped me immensely over the years. That is, when you are meeting with a prospect for the first time, resist the temptation to try to sell yourself; spend all of your time and energy seeking to understand the potential client or partner. Ask LOTS of questions, take notes and seek to identify what need (from their perspective) even got you in the door.
Once you are clear on that, then, and only tentatively, offer ideas about how your services might help them meet their needs; my usual follow-up is not even to tell them about me but to ask a few perceptive questions which show that I really understand where the prospect is coming from and some of the intricacies involved in his particular situation. What this does for you:
- Begins building the relationship and sets you apart from the hordes of other “consultants” out there. Most people have never had the experience of having someone listen deeply to them, truly seek to understand their issues, and then push their thinking in that area. Most are halfway expecting someone to bring in their pet product or trumpet their expertise (which is deadly when the prospect knows more about the topic than you do), so that they can listen for a perfunctory 5 minutes and kick you out of the door. Surprise them. The type of person that you want as a partner or client will ultimately choose you based on their level of trust in you and (only later) in your expertise.
- Helps clarify for you if what you have to offer is even a real fit for this client. Up to this point, all you’ve invested is a little of your time, and if you’re not a good fit, then simply say so and suggest a colleague who might help them. This will go a long way to establishing you as a trustworthy consultant, whatever your field of expertise.
- Assuming that you what you offer brings real value to the prospect (i.e., you’ve determined that there is a real “fit”), you now know which of your competencies or products are most applicable and can focus later conversation.
If you do this first step well, then your prospect will ask you to tell them specifics about what you do and how what you do can help them. That’s the time to begin talking about you, not before.
